“There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.” ―Edmund Burke

Answering the call of being a sheepdog in this society isn't easy. It isn't an easy choice, given the amount of ridicule it usually comes with by those that are or live among the sheep. We are looked at by the sheep as if we are the crazy ones because we have chosen to be the people who do the hard and necessary work of keeping evil from taking over. Honestly, most of the time, I have neither the time nor inclination to explain myself to likes of people who sleep comfortably under the blanket of safety that sheepdogs like me provide by just going about their daily work. Not listening to the likes of ass-clowns like Martin Bashir, Chrissy Tingles, Special Ed and Soledad O'Brien makes for a better day.

This calling to be a sheepdog comes with a number of burdens. The equipment that you sometimes have to carry and use is heavy, hot and cumbersome. You have to spend hours and days away from your family over a lifetime missing Thanksgivings, Halloweens, Christmas programs and birthdays year after year training or working. You get to see the sun rise when you are going home and see it set when you are heading to work.

The sheep and the lambs know not the sacrifices of the sheepdog, made to keep them safe. They happily go about their lives blissfully unaware of the nature of the world and all of the evil that never reaches them. They don't know about the bad actors, the dark places and the daily stress of being out there ensuring that they never know evil.

But these burdens are not the most heavy of burdens.

There will come a time in your life and career when you might have to decide who lives and dies out there. It's a terrible responsibility, you can't delegate it to anyone else, and it's one you will have to make on your own. The bigger reality is, it is also a decision that you are going to have to live with as a human being, for the rest of your life. There will come a time when you will have to say "no" to that person who needs you because the most important person to keep alive at that time, is going to be yourself. You could be facing a situation where there will be people, some of them your friends, all saying "save me, save me." They're looking for a miracle and you are going to have to decide if being that miracle is within you, and even worse, the person that may need that miracle might be you.

Some of you will recognize a version of that speech, and I heard it myself a long time ago from a wise old man who had to make a few of those terrible decisions in his life.

Sheepdogs can't be everywhere at once. Sometimes the sheep are on their own, and evil people know this. They chose to attack at that moment because they know that there will be no one there to stop them. If someone has an insatiable darkness in their heart, there is no law given by man or God that will stop them in their quest to act upon their terrible desires. Out of sheep, sometimes a sheepdog arises. God Bless Victoria Soto for knowing that one of the miracles that day was her. God Bless Maryrose Kristopik for doing what she could that day and being that miracle for her music class. God Bless Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach for running toward the sound of gunfire and being a miracle to their school. They moved to stop an armed man engaged in the rapid mass murder of little children armed only with their fists.

A Sheepdog's Burden, carried with them everyday, is at the moment that evil appears, that they will not be there in time to stop it. That evil will be able wreak havoc and by the time the Sheepdog arrives, the damage will be done and the evil men who have done evil deeds will be long gone. It is, without a doubt, the emptiest feeling in the world. Sheepdogs bear this burden because we know evil, we know that it sometimes pays a visit to the most cherished of places.

The tools needed to stop evil when used by evil men are not the problem. We don't need to know why evil is or why evil does or what evil will do. The problem is evil itself, and the people that embody it and act on it. It cannot be negotiated away, it cannot be wished away and it does not just go away.

The only way to stop evil, and evil people, is to meet that evil, shake it, stomp it or kill it if it is mortal.

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The Burden of the Sheepdog...

“There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.” ―Edmund Burke

Answering the call of being a sheepdog in this society isn't easy. It isn't an easy choice, given the amount of ridicule it usually comes with by those that are or live among the sheep. We are looked at by the sheep as if we are the crazy ones because we have chosen to be the people who do the hard and necessary work of keeping evil from taking over. Honestly, most of the time, I have neither the time nor inclination to explain myself to likes of people who sleep comfortably under the blanket of safety that sheepdogs like me provide by just going about their daily work. Not listening to the likes of ass-clowns like Martin Bashir, Chrissy Tingles, Special Ed and Soledad O'Brien makes for a better day.

This calling to be a sheepdog comes with a number of burdens. The equipment that you sometimes have to carry and use is heavy, hot and cumbersome. You have to spend hours and days away from your family over a lifetime missing Thanksgivings, Halloweens, Christmas programs and birthdays year after year training or working. You get to see the sun rise when you are going home and see it set when you are heading to work.

The sheep and the lambs know not the sacrifices of the sheepdog, made to keep them safe. They happily go about their lives blissfully unaware of the nature of the world and all of the evil that never reaches them. They don't know about the bad actors, the dark places and the daily stress of being out there ensuring that they never know evil.

But these burdens are not the most heavy of burdens.

There will come a time in your life and career when you might have to decide who lives and dies out there. It's a terrible responsibility, you can't delegate it to anyone else, and it's one you will have to make on your own. The bigger reality is, it is also a decision that you are going to have to live with as a human being, for the rest of your life. There will come a time when you will have to say "no" to that person who needs you because the most important person to keep alive at that time, is going to be yourself. You could be facing a situation where there will be people, some of them your friends, all saying "save me, save me." They're looking for a miracle and you are going to have to decide if being that miracle is within you, and even worse, the person that may need that miracle might be you.

Some of you will recognize a version of that speech, and I heard it myself a long time ago from a wise old man who had to make a few of those terrible decisions in his life.

Sheepdogs can't be everywhere at once. Sometimes the sheep are on their own, and evil people know this. They chose to attack at that moment because they know that there will be no one there to stop them. If someone has an insatiable darkness in their heart, there is no law given by man or God that will stop them in their quest to act upon their terrible desires. Out of sheep, sometimes a sheepdog arises. God Bless Victoria Soto for knowing that one of the miracles that day was her. God Bless Maryrose Kristopik for doing what she could that day and being that miracle for her music class. God Bless Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach for running toward the sound of gunfire and being a miracle to their school. They moved to stop an armed man engaged in the rapid mass murder of little children armed only with their fists.

A Sheepdog's Burden, carried with them everyday, is at the moment that evil appears, that they will not be there in time to stop it. That evil will be able wreak havoc and by the time the Sheepdog arrives, the damage will be done and the evil men who have done evil deeds will be long gone. It is, without a doubt, the emptiest feeling in the world. Sheepdogs bear this burden because we know evil, we know that it sometimes pays a visit to the most cherished of places.

The tools needed to stop evil when used by evil men are not the problem. We don't need to know why evil is or why evil does or what evil will do. The problem is evil itself, and the people that embody it and act on it. It cannot be negotiated away, it cannot be wished away and it does not just go away.

The only way to stop evil, and evil people, is to meet that evil, shake it, stomp it or kill it if it is mortal.

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The Authors

Former Paratrooper and Army Officer, "Blackfive" started this blog upon learning of the valorous sacrifice of a friend that was not reported by the journalist whose life he saved. Email: blackfive AT gmail DOT com

Instapinch
Bill Paisley, otherwise known as Pinch, is a 22 year (ongoing) active and
reserve naval aviator. He blogs over at www.instapinch.com on a veritable
cornucopia of various and sundry items and will bring a tactical naval
aviator's perspective to Blackfive. Readers be warned: any comments of or
about the F-14 Tomcat will be reverential and spoken in low, hushed tones.
Email: wpaisley AT comcast DOT net

Mr. Wolf has over 26 years in the Army, Army NG, and USAR. He’s Airborne with 5 years as an NCO, before becoming an officer. Mr. Wolf has had 4 company commands. Signal Corp is his basic branch, and Public Affairs is his functional area. He recently served 22 straight months in Kuwait and Iraq, in Intel, PA, and senior staff of MNF-I. Mr. Wolf is now an IT executive. He is currently working on a book on media and the Iraq war. Functional gearhead.

In Iraq, he received the moniker of Mr. Wolf after the Harvey Kietel character in Pulp Fiction, when "challenges" arose, they called on Mr. Wolf...
Email: TheDOTMrDOTWolfAT gmail DOT com

Deebow is a Staff Sergeant and a Military Police Squad Leader in the Army National Guard. In a previous life, he served in the US Navy. He has over 19 years of experience in both the Maritime and Land Warfare; including deployments to Southwest Asia, Thailand, the South Pacific, South America and Egypt. He has served as a Military Police Team Leader and Protective Services Team Leader and he has served on assignments with the US State Department, US Air Force Security Police, US Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration. He recently spent time in Afghanistan working with, training and fighting alongside Afghan Soldiers and is now focused on putting his 4 year Political Science degree to work by writing about foreign policy, military security policy and politics.

McQ has 28 years active and reserve service. Retired. Infantry officer. Airborne and Ranger. Consider my 3 years with the 82nd as the most fun I ever had with my clothes on. Interests include military issues and policy and veteran's affairs.
Email: mcq51 -at - bellsouth -dot- net

Tantor is a former USAF navigator/weapon system officer (WSO) in F-4E Phantoms who served in the US, Asia, and Europe. He is now a curmudgeonly computer geek in Washington, DC, picking the taxpayers pocket. His avocations are current events, aviation, history, and conservative politics.

Twenty-three years of Active and Reserve service in the US Army in SF (18B), Infantry and SOF Signal jobs with operational deployments to Bosnia and Africa. Since retiring he's worked as Senior Defense Analyst on SOF and Irregular Warfare projects and currently ensconced in the emerging world of Cyberspace.

The Authors Emeritus

Major Pain --
A Marine who began his blog in Iraq and reflects back on what he learned there and in Afghanistan. To the point opinions, ideas and thoughts on military, political and the media from One Marine’s View.Email: onemarinesview AT yahoo DOT com

Uber Pig was an Infantryman from late 1991 until early 1996, serving with Second Ranger Battalion, I Corps, and then 25th Infantry Division. At the time, the Army discriminated against enlisted soldiers who wanted use the "Green to Gold" program to become officers, so he left to attend Stanford University. There, he became expert in detecting, avoiding, and surviving L-shaped ambushes, before dropping out to be as entrepreneurial as he could be. He is now the founder of a software startup serving the insurance and construction industries, and splits time between Lake Tahoe, Boonville, and San Francisco, CA.

Uber Pig writes for Blackfive a) because he's the proud brother of an enlisted Civil Affairs Reservist who currently serves in Iraq, b) because he looks unkindly on people who make it harder for the military in general, and for his brother in particular, to succeed at their missions and come home in victory, and c) because the Blackfive readers and commenters help keep him sane.

COB6 spent 24 years in the active duty Army that included 5 combat tours with service in the 1st Ranger Battalion and 1st Special Forces Group . COB6 was enlisted (E-7) and took the OCS route to a commission. COB6 retired a few years back as a field grade Infantry officer.
Currently COB6 has a son in the 82nd Airborne that just returned from his third tour and has a newly commissioned daughter in the 4th Infantry Division.